Pale Blue Inc., founded in 2020 as a spin-off from the University of Tokyo, is a space-tech company that develops and manufactures water-based propulsion systems for small satellites, ranging from CubeSats to microsats. Their innovative and sustainable thrusters use water as a propellant, offering a safer and more accessible alternative to traditional chemical propellants, for in-space mobility, orbit control and debris mitigation. Pale Blue partners with satellite manufacturers and operators globally and has performed multiple in-orbit demonstrations of its technology. Key products include water ion thrusters and resistojet thrusters.
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Pale Blue will conduct a space demonstration of its PBH-100 small ion thruster in 2027.
The PBH-100 small ion thruster developed by Pale Blue is designed to resolve the slow startup issues of traditional ion thrusters.
Pale Blue signed a contract with Axel Space for in-orbit demonstration services on December 16, 2025.
Pale Blue will conduct in-orbit demonstration of its Hall Thruster in 2027.
Pale Blue's PBI water ion thruster is included in the manifest.
Pale Blue announced two new products for small satellite propulsion systems on November 18, 2025.
Pale Blue aims to provide microwave cathode technology propulsion systems to the small satellite market to improve mission success rates and operational efficiency.
The 'PBR-30' resistojets thruster features low power consumption and high thrust, building on Pale Blue's proven resistojets technology.
Pale Blue announced two new propulsion systems for small satellites on November 18: the high-thrust, high-specific impulse small Hall thruster 'PBH-100' and the low-power, high-thrust resistojets thruster 'PBR-30'.
Since the end of 2023, Pale Blue has been developing a propulsion system for satellites aimed at space debris reduction as part of Phase 1.
Pale Blue's thruster has been adopted by Sony's satellite 'EYE', gaining attention in the industry.
Pale Blue's electric thrusters are characterized by being low-cost, easy to handle, and free from the risks associated with conventional propellants like xenon and hydrazine.
Pale Blue was approved to transition to Phase 2 of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology's Small and Medium Enterprises Innovation Creation Promotion Project (SBIR Phase 3) by the stage gate review committee.
Pale Blue Inc. announced that its project focused on technology development and demonstration necessary for space debris reduction was approved to move to Phase 2 of the Small Business Innovation Research program by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.
Pale Blue is a startup originating from the University of Tokyo that is developing electric thrusters using water as a propellant.
In January 2025, Pale Blue signed a contract with D-Orbit in Italy to demonstrate the capabilities of the 'PBI' engine.
Pale Blue successfully demonstrated the operation of its water ion engine 'PBI' in orbit on September 10, 2025.
Pale Blue is the first company in the world to operate a water-based ion engine in space.
Pale Blue Inc. completed a Series B funding round of approximately 2,500,000,000 JPY (approx. $16,000,000).
Pale Blue will use the Series B funding to establish a development base for production technologies.